NCAA Wrestling thread

The brackets have been released (pdf):

125: Rodriguez is unseeded and will face the 8 seed in his first match (after a bye).
133: Grey gets the 7 seed.
141: Frey is unseeded and is projected to meet the 4 seed in the second round.
157: Leen is the 8 seed.
165: Lewnes is the 4 seed.
174: Anceravage is the 11 seed. He is projected to get another shot at Hofstra's Lucas (6) in the second round.

Rodriguez gets skunked 11-0 in his opening match at 125. Stuck wrestling the 8 seed to start the tournament, I suspect Rodriguez was out of his depth.

Grey gets an 11-1 MD in his opening match at 133.

Frey gets a 17-1 TF in his opening match at 141.

Leen wins 4-3 in his opening match at 157. Leen was saddled with a very tough opener, facing a returning All-American who came to the tournament unseeded. He won with a reversal with 10 seconds remaining. He also potentially catches a break as the #9 seed loses his opening match, and Leen will face an unseeded wrestler in the second round.

Lewnes wins 5-3 in his opening match at 165.

Anceravage wins 7-6 in his opening match at 174. A very sloppy move at the end of the second period cost Anceravage 4 points and he won with RT. He got a stall warning, but never a penalty. It shouldn't have been that close.

Cornell closes the first round at 5-1 (chalk, more or less), with bonus points in two matches.

Frey (tech fall), Grey (major), Leen (via a late reversal), Lewnes, and Anceravage advance to the next round. Rodriguez in consolations.

Pretty good second round:

#7 Grey wins by decision over the #10 seed and gets the #2 seed in the quarters

#8 Leen wins by decision, and gets #1 seed Gillespie in the quarters

#4 Lewnes pins his opponent and gets the #5 seed in the quarters

#11 Anceravage pins the #6 seed in a minute and a half and gets the #3 seed in the quarters.

Frey pinned by the #4 seed

Rodriguez's consolation match a mystery [Edit: M-Rod wins 7-0, just missing a major]

NCAA Team Scores after Thursday

1. Iowa 29.5
2. Nebraska 26.5
3. Iowa State 25
4. Central Michigan 24
4. Minnesota 24
6. Missouri 23
6. Oklahoma State 23
8. Ohio State 22
9. Cornell 17.5
9. Penn State 17.5

125: Rodriguez stays alive in the consy bracket with an 8-4 decision. Strange match - his opponent got two early takedowns and started stalling really early. Not only did he release MRod for an escape point after the first warning, but he got nailed for another warning anyway. A takedown and nearfall, plus a rideout by MRod removed any doubt about this one.

133: Grey loses in OT 10-8 after a tough match against the 2 seed. Apparently really close to a reversal that would have netted him the win, but had to settle for an escape and OT. One win in the wrestlebacks and he is AA.

141: Frey pins his man IN 22 SECONDS to move on in the consy bracket.

157: Leen beats the #1 seed 8-6!!! Leen is on to the semis, which locks up All-American! Congratulations, Jordan!

165: Lewnes wins 6-5 in OT!!! Lewnes is on to the semis, which locks up All-American! Congratulations, Mack!

174: Anceravage loses a close one, 3-2. He couldn't get a takedown and his opponent stalled out the third. Good luck in the consys. One win in the wrestlebacks and he is AA.

It's reported that Leen beat top-seed Gillespie of Edinboro in the quarters, 8-6. If true, that's All-America for Leen and a spot in tonight's semis.

[Edit: Leen did win 8-6. Lewnes also advances to semis with 6-5 OT win over Dwyer of Nebraska.]

To get to AA, Frey and Rodriguez are each going to have to win two more matches. Grey and Anceravage each need one more win.

Rodriguez next meets up with Robles, an unranked wrestler from Arizona State that he is 1-1 against. The winner of that match goes against Gardner, the #4 seed from Stanford.

#7 Grey will meet the winner of a matchup of two unseeded wrestlers - Humphrey (Ohio State) and Beebe (Cent. Mich.). Earlier in the tournament, Reece beat the #9 seed and Humphrey went to OT against the #1 seed.

Frey next meets up with #12 seed Scott (Penn St.) with the winner facing Kyler (Army).

#11 Anceravage will face the winner of unseeded Dolly (N. Iowa) and #8 Dretsch (Minn.)

In the main bracket:

157: #8 Leen will face #12 Zupancic (Stanford), while the #2 and #3 seeds wrestle in the other semi.

165: #4 Lewnes will face #1 Tannenbaum (Mich.), while the #2 and #3 seeds wrestle in the other semi.

Rodriguez loses 11-8 to Robles. He fell behind 10-1 and came on strong in the third period, getting a takedown and 5 backpoints but wasn't able to finish the fall and ran out of time. Robles got a point for riding time to finish the scoring. A great season for Mike overall, after stepping in for Troy Nickerson after Nickerson's early injury. His clutch performance to win the Penn dual for the team is probably the highlight of the year, but the totality of his season was a refreshing surprise. Congrats on getting your letter and a fine senior year.

After taking an early 6-1 lead, Frey gets gassed and loses 14-6. He started to fade at the end of the second period and got killed in the third. Still, a hell of a run through EIWA and this tournament after it looked like he might get kicked off of the team. I suspect "conditioning" is going to be the focus of his offseason.

The evening session starts at 6PM Central.

Semis:

157: #8 Leen will face #12 Zupancic (Stanford), while the #2 and #3 seeds wrestle in the other semi.

165: #4 Lewnes will face #1 Tannenbaum (Mich.), while the #2 and #3 seeds wrestle in the other semi.

Round of 12 (winner makes AA):

133: #7 Grey vs. Humphrey (Ohio State)

174: #11 Anceravage vs. #9 Mason (Okl. State)

After the last round of wrestling, Cornell sits tied for 8th - pretty impressive considering we only qualified 8 wrestlers.

Oklahoma State website
1. Iowa – 67 points

T2. Oklahoma State – 47.5 points

T2. Nebraska – 47.5 points

4. Ohio State – 45.5 points

5. Central Michigan – 43 points

6. Penn State – 42 points

7. Missouri – 38.5 points

T8. Cornell – 34.5 points

T8. Minnesota – 34.5 points

T10. Iowa State – 33 points

T10. Michigan – 33 points

ugarte
After the last round of wrestling, Cornell sits tied for 8th - pretty impressive considering we only qualified 8 wrestlers.

Six...even more impressive

Al DeFlorio

ugarte
After the last round of wrestling, Cornell sits tied for 8th - pretty impressive considering we only qualified 8 wrestlers.

Six...even more impressive

You are right, sir. I have no idea what my fingers were doing when I typed that.

Al, you're going to have to take it from here since I'm taking off (though I suspect you are preoccupied with hockey...)

133: Grey wins 9-6 and clinches AA! Congrats, Mike!

ugarte

Al DeFlorio

ugarte
After the last round of wrestling, Cornell sits tied for 8th - pretty impressive considering we only qualified 8 wrestlers.

Six...even more impressive

You are right, sir. I have no idea what my fingers were doing when I typed that.

Suspect you were preoccupied with Cornell being in 8th spot.

Leen wins his 157 semifinal 9-2. Finals tomorrow night on ESPN. Leen faces #2 Poeta from Illinois.

Anceravage wins in the consolation round 2-0 and guarantees top 8 finish and All-American.

Lewnes loses to #1 seed Tannenbaum of Michigan, goes into consys

Summary: Leen in finals; Grey, Lewnes, and Anceravage alive in consys wrestling for 3rd through 8th spots; all are All-Americans

Al DeFlorio
Leen wins his 157 semifinal 9-2. Finals tomorrow night on ESPN. Leen faces #2 Poeta from Illinois.

Anceravage wins in the consolation round 2-0 and guarantees top 8 finish and All-American.

Lewnes loses to #1 seed Tannenbaum of Michigan, goes into consys

Summary: Leen in finals; Grey, Lewnes, and Anceravage alive in consys wrestling for 3rd through 8th spots; all are All-Americans

There was one more round of wrestlebacks and both Anceravage and Grey won, Grey by coming from behind and then decking the #7 seed from Navy, Baker (who beat him at EIWA). Anceravage never trailed and won by a comfortable (but not major) decision.

Leen can finish no worse than 2d; Anceravage, Grey and Lewnes can finish no worse than 6th. And we got great performances from Rodriguez and Frey (who earned us some bonus points), even though they didn't make AA.

Cornell currently stands in 9th place heading into the final day:

1 102.0 Iowa 
2  71.0 Ohio State 
3  68.0 Iowa State
4  63.0 Penn State
5  61.5 Central Michigan
6  61.0 Michigan
7  58.0 Nebraska
   58.0 Oklahoma State
9  57.5 Cornell 
10 56.5 Minnesota

Tomorrow's matches:

Consy:
133: #7 Grey opens up against #1 Gomez (Mich. St.). The other consolation semifinal is between #2 Kennedy (Ill.) and #8 Reiter (Minn.) The winners wrestle for 3d place; the losers wrestle for 5th. Possible revenge?: Kennedy barely beat Grey earlier in the tournament.

165: #4 Lewnes opens up against #10 Cannon (American). The other consolation semifinal is #3 Marable (Mizzou) vs. #8 Fay (N, Iowa). The winners wrestle for 3d place; the losers wrestle for 5th.

174: #11 Anceravage opens up against #4 Borschel (Iowa). The other consolation semifinal is between #3 Browne (Neb.) and #5 Sinnott (Cent. Mich.) The winners wrestle for 3d place; the losers wrestle for 5th. Possible revenge?: Browne barely beat Anceravage earlier in the tournament.

Championship:

157: #8 Leen wrestles #2 Poeta (Illinois) for the NCAA title.

Rough day for Cornell so far, going 1-5 in the consolation bracket. A lot of the matches were close, but our guys weren't able to get that one last takedown to win.

At 133, #7 Grey lost back to back to #1 Gomez (6-4) and #8 Reiter (10-7). Grey finishes in 6th place, outperforming his seed.

At 165, #4 Lewnes dominated #10 Cannon and finished him with a pin. He lost the 3d place match to #3 Marable 3-2. Lewnes finishes in 4th place, meeting his seed.

At 174, #11 Anceravage was dominated by #4 Borschel, who finished by pinning him at 6:30. In the 5th place match, he lost to #5 Sinnott 3-2. Anceravage finishes in 6th place, outperforming his seed.

After the morning session, Cornell sits in 9th place, just ahead of Minnesota. Each school has one wrestler in the finals, so if Leen wins, we'll finish ahead of the Gophers (unless, I guess, the Gopher WBF).

The Lewnes 3rd-4th match really should've ended with a stall call on the other guy. Lewnes just kept going after him trying to get the takedown and the other guy was running and sprawling. Thats the only match I managed to catch this morning on ESPNU.

Leen wins the championship. He pulled it out by 1 point at the end when the other guy cut him to try for a takedown with a minute to go and didn't succeed.

Very good match... someone should have pointed out that it's on ESPN live. Oh well.

Leen wins 5-4. Poeta had to let him go early, because if he tried to turn him he risked Leen getting the escape with no time for a TD.

Jordan wrestled a great match and wins the National Championship!

Cornell finished with 4 All-Americans for the fourth year in a row and closes the championship in 9th place.

Congratulations to the All-Americans:

Jordan Leen - 1st (157)
Mack Lewnes - 4th (165)
Steve Anceravage - 6th (174)
Mike Grey - 6th (133)

Fantastic year for the Big Red - and next year could be even better. Two-time All-American Troy Nickerson will return (probably at 133); All-American Grey (probably at 141); Frey at 149; Two-time All-American and returning National Champion Leen at 157; All-American Lewnes at 165; All-American Anceravage at 174; Kerber at 184; 2007 All-American Arnone back at 197; and Zach Hammond, who was in line to be seeded for All-American this year before his injury back at Hwt.

I don't know much about Perelli at 125, but we have at least 8 that can get All-American next year. I can hardly wait.

Although 90% of their viewers are probably wrestling fans, it would have been nice if ESPN had attempted to educate those not used to watching wrestling about some rules and strategy of the competition.

It was difficult to watch having no clue what was going on at any given time.

I'm not completely up to speed on the scoring, and I'm certain that somebody could fill us all in much better, but I think the basic idea is that you get points for takedowns, escapes, and substantial "riding time". Leen's competitor knew that he couldn't win the match unless he tried to get an additional takedown, so he gave Leen the additional one point escape. The strategy didn't work out all that well for him.

metaezra
I'm not completely up to speed on the scoring, and I'm certain that somebody could fill us all in much better, but I think the basic idea is that you get points for takedowns, escapes, and substantial "riding time". Leen's competitor knew that he couldn't win the match unless he tried to get an additional takedown, so he gave Leen the additional one point escape. The strategy didn't work out all that well for him.

You get 2 points for a takedown (essentially establishing full control over both his legs while down on the mat), and 1 point for an escape (returning to the position the match started at, both on your feet facing each other). Generally when you are at a high level of competition, an escape is a given within a certain amount of time b/c it is very difficult to keep someone down. Leen's opponent knew Leen would likely escape (he had already done it relatively quickly in the match), so he gave up the 1 point in hopes of getting 2 for a takedown before the match ended. You don't even want me to start getting in to the stalling and fleeing the mat rules as it gets complicated. I feel like it is a sport that only people who have wrestled or had children that wrestled watch on TV.

As Jacob said, you get 2 for a takedown and one for an escape.

If you expose the opponent's back to the mat, you can get anywhere from 2 to 4 points (called a near-fall). If you force the opponent onto their back and hold the position, of course, it is a pin (or fall) and the match is over.

While one wrestler is in control (after a takedown or if starting a period on top), he accumulates "riding time." If a wrestler finishes regulation with a net riding time advantage of 1 minute or more, that is worth 1 point.

Penalty points can be awarded for stalling (after a warning), for fleeing the mat (as happened in the Leen match) or for a false start (after a warning). (Any others, Jacob?) These are purely at the ref's discretion - a lot of internet chatter (including from Jacob above) suggested that the ref swallowed his whistle in Lewnes' third place match, and cost him a shot at overtime.

OT is a 1 minute sudden death period, followed by two 30 second non-sudden death periods in which each wrestler gets to choose position. If, after two cycles the match is still tied, the wrestler with the riding time advantage wins the match (as happened in the 184 final).

You can also get penalty points for things like illegal headlocks and full nelsons, but these are incredibly rare in the college game.

Jacob '06
You can also get penalty points for things like illegal headlocks and full nelsons, but these are incredibly rare in the college game.

Now that you mention it, I think Lewnes may have gotten a warning (or a penalty point?) in one of his matches for locking hands.

CM cWo 44
Very good match... someone should have pointed out that it's on ESPN live. Oh well.

If you still want to see it, a lot of the tournament is on YouTube (for now). Here is a search for jordan leen: [www.youtube.com]

ugarte
If you still want to see it, a lot of the tournament is on YouTube (for now). Here is a search for jordan leen: [www.youtube.com]

Nice. Thanks.

ugarte
If you still want to see it, a lot of the tournament is on YouTube (for now). Here is a search for jordan leen: [www.youtube.com]

Thanks for posting this. I forgot to watch last night while watching all the hockey games, but just watched Leen's quarter, semi and final matches.

I'm not much of a wrestling fan. but it's still pretty sweet to be randomly flipping channels and happen upon a Cornellian competing for a national title. I ended up watching the final two periods of Leen's win. Good stuff.